StrongMinds is a social enterprise which restores the mental health of vulnerable Africans by training lay community members to identify and treat mental illnesses. We are initially focused on treating depression in Uganda. We train community members to assist their depressed neighbors using group interpersonal psychotherapy techniques which are proven, scalable and low-cost. We will expand our services to cover additional mental illnesses and African countries in the future.

Led a committed team of over 300 staff which made tremendous progress in lifting some of the poorest people in the world up and out of poverty, from Latin America to Africa to Asia.Read more about my work: http://nextbillion.net/blogpost.aspx?blogid=2720

Responsible for leading all aspects of the organization, including directly managing a partnership with BRAC that provided hundreds of thousands of eyeglasses to rural populations throughout Bangladesh. Directed the development of several new business models, which are moving VisionSpring to financial sustainability and expanded impact.

• Leader responsible for this 1,200 person, $30 million social marketing program with field presence throughout the Indian sub-continent.• Developed an aggressive 5-year strategic plan to guide the organization into a new phase of growth under the mission of improving the lives of the vulnerable populations of India. • Spear-headed and completed the reorganization of this vast program which resulted in improved communication channels, enhanced health impact to our clients and overall increased efficiencies. • Sparked an organizational culture change to re-double the program’s focus on bottom-line results and health impact via a variety of change management approaches. • Created and staffed a dedicated fund-raising team with an entrepreneurial spirit which is developing new funding approaches. • Led a two year PSI global effort and successfully implemented a mechanism to foster the development of new and innovative programs.

• Led a 170 person, $15 million social marketing program in two countries (Congo-K & Congo-B), with programs focusing on HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention, family planning and maternal health issues.• Raised new cumulative funding exceeding $52 million from such donors as USAID, DFID, The World Bank, The Global Fund and private companies.• Guided the rapid expansion of PSI programs into diverse new health and profit generating areas, which resulted in massively increasing recordable health impact and tripling the program’s annual budget. • Established strong relations with varied partners including the host government, local NGO’s, churches, and local community leaders and volunteers throughout both countries.• Implemented comprehensive programs to develop the local capacity of the Congolese staff to include job rotations, intensive expatriate mentoring and innovative organizational structures.